22 August 2001

MEDIA RELEASE

Gold For Transit Project

A Transit New Zealand project on the Auckland Harbour Bridge has won gold at the 2001 Association of Consulting Engineers New Zealand (ACENZ) Awards of Excellence. Consultants Beca Carter Hollings and Ferner Ltd won the Gold Award for determining the elements at risk for the Harbour Bridge in the event of an earthquake, and implementing the solution for this vital transport link.

Three other Transit projects picked up merit awards.

Transit’s chief executive Dr Robin Dunlop congratulated all the recipients saying Transit is delighted to be associated with these very successful projects.

“These are top projects that the engineers consider to be their best work. The emphasis is on innovation and Transit encourages innovative techniques and fosters new and better ways of getting the work done,” Dr Dunlop says.

“These winning engineering consultants have measured up to our exacting standards, and I’m pleased to see they meet the standards of their peers,” he says.

Auckland Harbour Bridge Seismic Assessment and Retrofit - ACENZ Gold Award

Transit’s Auckland Harbour Bridge was opened in 1959 and widened in the in the late 1960s using two lane steel box girder structures. Both the truss bridge and the box girders were designed at a time when design for earthquake loads was in its infancy. Transit wanted to safeguard the bridge against earthquakes and extreme wind storms.

The precision retrofit included

- Addition of an innovative internal bracing system to the steelbox pier columns to prevent “unzipping”

- Strengthening of steel members in the brackets supporting the box girders

- Installation of large braced frames from the steel box girders to the main piers

- Tying together many critical joints to prevent separation during an earthquake.

The retrofit was completed in April 2000. Great attention was paid to minimizing disruption to traffic and the construction process went largely unnoticed by the 160,000 motorists who continued to use the bridge every day.

Transit projects receiving ACENZ Merit Awards

- Albany to Puhoi Motorway Transit’s ALPURT project will improve travel times and provide a safer road north from Auckland. This particular part of the ALPURT project was for 15 kilometres of motorway extension, including ten bridge structures and three major interchanges as well as several major stream crossings.

- Fairlie Main Street Upgrade Community involvement was a key feature of the upgrade of Fairlie’s Main Street. As a result the landscape design incorporates elements of local history, safety is improved, and the whole environment round the street was enhanced. The McKenzie District Council and Transit worked closely together with the consultants and contractors for a successful project.

- Napier - Hastings Expressway (Pakowhai Rd - Omahu Rd) Transit worked with local authorities in Hawke’s Bay to build this eight kilometre length of the expressway between Napier and Hastings. One of the significant innovations of this project was the formal partnering charter approach encouraged by Transit involving the key stakeholders. The project was completed seven months early and $2 million under budget. Hydraulic modelling led to innovative design solutions involving a 300 metre bridge with protected embankments protruding into the floodway.

Opus International Consultants Ltd were the consultants for all of Transit’s ACENZ Merit Award projects.

For further information contact Marguerite Fahy (04) 496 6639

Visit the Transit website on www.transit.govt.nz

© Scoop Media

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